About the icon

The icon Christ the Evangelizer, is from the hand of Peter Dziouba in collaboration with Fr. Joseph Bertha. This icon is promulgated by the Byzantine Catholic Metropolia of Pittsburgh as fittingly conveying the Eastern Catholic concept of Christ in His role as Evangelizer and to celebrate the Jubilee of the Year 2000.

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NihiI Obstat: Reverend Msgr. Alan J. Borsuk 

Imprimatur: Most Reverend Andrew Pataki, JCL DD 

given on 8 September 1999 Birth of the Mother of God

-Text by Reverend Joseph W. Bertha, Ph.D., Candidate, Director of Evangelization, Eparchy of Passaic

-Icon written by Peter Dzlouba

©Byzantine Seminary Press, All rights reserved.

Christ the Evangelizer Icon

A new type of Christ icon has been written (painted) in order to commemorate both Jubilee 2000 and the New Evangelization. The icon shows Our Lord as Evangelizer, the Proclaimer of Good News, and is based on the gospel account found in Saint Luke 4:16-22:

"He came to Nazareth where he had been reared, and entering the synagogue on the Sabbath as he was in the habit of doing, he stood up to do the reading. When the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed him, he unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore he has anointed me. He has sent me to evangelize the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and release to prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord." Rolling up the scroll he gave it back to the assistant and sat down. All in the synagogue had their eyes fixed on him. Then he began by saying to them, "today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.* All who were present spoke favorably of him: they marveled at the appealing discourse which came from his lips. They also asked, "Is this Joseph*s son?"

This occasion was when Christ first evangelized the faithful gathered at the Nazareth synagogue when He read from the text of Isaiah 61: 1-2:

"The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners. To announce a year of favor from the Lord"

A description of the Icon

The Icon faithfully follows the words of Sacred Scripture and shows Jesus Christ standing In the center of the Icon fully facing the viewer. His right hand extends upwards in a gesture of proclamation, or evangelization; while His left hand holds and points to the text on the scroll Of the Isaiah scripture. God the Father*s hand extends in blessing through the heavenly clouds, and the Holy Spirit, depicted as a white haloed dove, hovers over the head of Our Lord. The three persons of the Holy Trinity are present.

Christ stands underneath the dome of the synagogue, which subsequently develops into the single central dome of church architecture. Four pillars or piers extend from the dome, which represents heaven and reach the earth shown as the ambon, thereby architecturally manifesting the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven to earth. Christ stands on the green ambon, the traditional location for liturgical preaching within church architecture. The ambon shown as green grass evokes the Messianic incarnation prophesied In Psalm 72:6: "He shall be like rain coming down on the meadow, like showers watering the earth." The heavenly clouds suggest the rain, while the green ambon portrays the meadow grass, which is poetically echoed in the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos verse 5: "Hail For You make the meadow produce contentment."

The intricate and incised background together with the gold highlight lines in the himation (cloak) of Christ portray the refulgent rays of grace which emanate from and permeate through the clothing of Our Lord and recall the Transfiguration when the disciples perceive Jesus as God in the dazzling snow white garments. Our Lord*s himation and chiton (tunic) radiate with this Light, the refulgence of God present in His Words as He preaches and evangelizes the world. The himation / chiton combination of Christ also shows that His divinity is clothed in His humanity, and the clavus (the ribbon insert on His right shoulder) designates His authority as teacher ‘rabbi.* The himation of Christ majestically billows in the air and its fluttering recalls the descent and movement of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Jesus is depicted with a cruciform halo inscribed with the Greek letters: o wn literally meaning "He who is" from the Hebrew  tetragrammaton, "Yahweh" (YHWH), the Name of God revealed to Moses at the Burning Bush. The cross reminds us of the forthcoming salvific death of Our Savior.

At the crown of His head, two strands. of hair fall from the central part, they represent that He Is both God and man.:

The Holy Spirit anoints His forehead with the royal priestly anointing given to, prophets. In a similar manner when we are anointed during the Mystery (sacrament) of Chrismation (Confirmation), our five senses are sealed with the chrism, enabling us to become evangelizers as well. The Sacramental Anointing with oil (Mirovanije) which takes place on major Feast Days reminds us of our Chrismation, and empowers us to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The location, Nazareth

The town of Nazareth has the distinction of being the place where the first descent of the Holy Spirit occurred at the Annunciation, when He overshadowed the Virgin Mary, the account is found in chapter one of the Gospel of Saint Luke. The first preaching of the Gospel also occurs in Nazareth. Both Incarnation events occurred in Nazareth and denote the Word of God taking flesh in the world.

The word Nazareth is derived from the Hebrew/Aramaic word for ‘shoot.* This is shown in the icon by the carved wooden tendrils and foliage found at the lectern base.  A tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl, is tied to the lectern, and marks the location as a synagogue.

Pope John Paul II underscores the importance of these two Nazareth events in Tertio Millennio Adveniente (Page 12 #6):

"Christianity has its starting point in the Incarnation of the Word. Here, it is not simply a case of man seeking God, but of God who comes in Person to speak to man of himself and to show him the path by which he may be reached."... The Incarnate Word is thus the fulfillment of the yearning present in all the religions of mankind: this fulfillment is brought about by God himself and transcends all human expectations. It is the mystery of grace."

In Jesus Christ God not only speaks to man but also seeks him out. The Incarnation of the Son of God attests that God goes in search of man."

Jubilee Year of Grace

In the icon, the numerals 2000 are subscripted underneath the words: "Year of Grace," in the Isaiah text. The Holy Father elaborates on the purpose for this Jubilee in Tertio Millennia Adveniente (#32, page 37) “The Jubilee of the Year 2000 is meant to be a great prayer of praise and thanksgiving, especially for the gift of the Incarnation of the Son of God and of the Redemption which he accomplished." For the Catholic Church, therefore, the Jubilee is precisely this ‘year of the Lord*s favor,* a year of the remission of sins and of the punishments due to them, a year of reconciliation between disputing parties, a year of manifold conversions and of sacramental and extra-sacramental penance.

The Eastern Church calendar begins on 1 September and is called the Indiction; this is when the Saint Luke 4:16-22 text is read, as Our Lord proclaims a Jubilee Year. A vesper verse chanted on the Indiction accents and elaborates on the slavlfic dimension of the new church year:

(From Vespers for 1 September, verse at the Apostlcha):

"You are wonderful, O Christ, and wondrous are your deeds. Your ways are unsearchable; You are the wisdom of God, perfect person and power. For though₁ without beginning, and equal In eternity and operation, by your infinite power You made -your home in our world. Beyond understanding and without changing your, divinity, You were born of a virgin mother; You came to seek your creation whom You had adorned with beauty; and You set the times and circumstances for our salvation. Therefore, we shout to You; 0 Good Master,! glory to You!"

We have a unique opportunity to participate in the dual commemoration of Jubilee Year 2000 of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and the New Evangelization. We are sacramentally empowered to evangelize and preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to all in the world: the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life. The icon of Christ the Evangelizer Inspires us to marvel at the appealing discourse coming from the lips of Our Lord. May we His followers evangelize all those whom we encounter!

Metropolitan Archbishop

Judson of Pittsburgh, 

together with Bishop

Andrew of Passaic,

Bishop 

George of Van Nuys,

and Bishop

Basil of Parma

promulgate this newly written icon as fittingly conveying the Eastern Catholic concept of Christ in His role as Evangelizer and to celebrate the Jubilee Year of the New Millenium of 2000.